Song Of Richonne
by Aurora-of-Aragon
Summary: Loosely based on the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Richard is a deposed king of a dying planet. He and his children flee along with his court to reestablish their lives on an uninhabited planet. He has been having visions since his youth and recently the king has been communicating with an unknown voice that has proved comforting and soothing.
1. Chapter 1

_Blue_. They were blue as the oceans that once roared mightily over the entire planet. Untainted and effervescent the waters were the givers of life. _Blue._ They were as blue as the skies that graced his dying planet. He had sat under those skies and soaked up the optimism that covered him like a great banner in his youth and as King. _Blue-_ the color of the eyes that floated in his dreams daily since he could remember. Except those same eyes also visited him when he was awake.

The eyes never haunted him or caused him alarm. In fact they were comforting and brought a breeze of the familiar. Many years ago he safely concluded that they belonged to someone he knew. _His future wife?_ Yet when he met Lorelei she had the most inviting brown eyes that captured him. He then concluded that the eyes belonged to his children. The prince did indeed have blue eyes but they were not the eyes that flowed through his thoughts and dreams. When the princess was born she had the eyes of her mother, brown and interwoven with a quiet strength and bravery. He had no answer to this beautiful mystery yet someone was now calling to him and pleading with him to follow...

 _My beloved is radiant and ruddy,  
_ _outstanding among ten thousand.  
His head is purest gold;  
_ _his hair is wavy  
_ _and black as a raven.  
His eyes are like doves  
_ _by the water streams,  
washed in milk,  
_ _mounted like jewels.  
His cheeks are like beds of spice  
_ _yielding perfume.  
His lips are like lilies  
_ _dripping with myrrh.  
His arms are rods of gold  
_ _set with topaz.  
His body is like polished ivory  
_ _decorated with sapphire._

 _His legs are pillars of marble  
_ _set on bases of pure gold.  
His appearance is like green valleys,  
_ _choice as its cedars.  
His mouth is sweetness itself;  
_ _he is altogether lovely.  
This is my beloved, this is my friend,  
_ _daughters_

He heard the voice as clear as he heard each heavy breath he took.

 _"_ _Follow it!"_ The king told himself as he did everyday during the past month when the voice first called out.

 _But to where?_

"Your Highness it is time to depart."

"Your Highness?"

King Richard was snatched from his thoughts. All that was blue turned into towers of black-gray smoke. He was in a crouching position on the zenith of the mountain. He needed to come to the highest point on the planet to take everything in. All that was left was ashes. Eons to build yet it took only hours to destroy.

"Your Highness we have to leave now. There is nothing left."

The king continued to ignore his advisor.

"He will murder you and the children if we delay." Hershel pleaded.

Richard growing annoyed adjusted his black cape.

"If you do not care about yourself, at least think of the prince and the princess, Your-"

The king leapt to his feet and jumped into his advisors face. "Stop calling me that. I've told you repeatedly that I am Richard. Not _Your Highness._ Not _Your Majesty,_ nor _Your Grace._ I'm no longer worthy of any of those titles."

"Hershel shook his head. What happened was not your fault. Everyone thought that he was dead. There was nothing more you could possibly do. If you were not off world with the children, the three of you would have been executed as well. None of us would be alive.

Richard backed away from his adviser who was his mentor and friend. He looked back and watched Margaret and Sasha laser off the name of his ship and his coat of arms off of the body. Their devotion to him was unquestionable.

"I am sorry, old friend." The king whispered with guilt creeping in his spirit.

Hershel nodded at Richard's apology.

"It is just that I saved our galaxy once. How was I unable to do it again?" Richard lamented in a sorrowful plea.

The older man searched for anything to console his King but was at a loss. He simply listened.

"I have failed. So many were depending on me-billions of people extinguished. The Queen..."

King Richard's voice faltered as he imagined the last moments of Lorelei's life.

Tyreese appeared at Hershel's side with a flag and a post in his hand. He handed it to Richard.

"We have to leave right now if we are to make to planet Kabi at the beginning of the warm season. That will give us time to build, to plant and to harvest." Tyreese reminded the King.

"Thank you". Richard said as he took the flag and the pole from his friend from the first war. Richard gingerly brushed the flag with his fingers. On the flag was his family's coat of arms combined with Lorelei's family's coat of arms: a condor symbolizing the rich history of flight and heroics in Richard's family through the centuries and a binary sun symbolizing Lorelei's first ancestors who sacrificed themselves to become the life force that created their galaxy.

"Let us leave him." Tyreese whispered to Hershel.

Richard took a quick glance over his shoulder to watch the two men walk back to the ship. He slid the flag onto the pole and spiked it into the ground in defiance.

 _It's been two years Lorelei but it hurts just the same. I failed. I was never fit to lead. I tried but I couldn't. I tried._

Richard's shoulder length brown hair whipped across his face. He closed his eyes and imagined it was his wife giving him a final kiss goodbye as he left their planet. Far away the shell of his castle which he had not been in for some time finally collapsed. The mountains had served as his home since that day. In caves he struggled, fought, and planned his route back to his rightful place as ruler but he ultimately concluded that this was not the life his children deserved. He would happily relinquish his throne so that his son and daughter could grow up happy and unharmed as children should.

Dolefully, he boarded the Andromeda and passed by what was spared of his court. His loved ones pretended to tend to minor tasks around the ship giving their king the dignity to process everything. He went to his room and looked in on his slumbering children. He caressed their faces and managed a smile .They shared his quarters despite the ship being enough for the children to have their own accommodations. He could not bear to let them out of his sight. Eventually Richard knew he would have to relent. His boy was almost sixteen and needed his privacy.

As the Andromeda lifted off, Richard stood at the giant observation window in his quarters. He watched as everything he knew and loved grew smaller then vanished. The blue skies were finally overtaken by the darkness of the cosmos. Richard looked at his reflection in the pane. He pressed his hands against the glass feeling the coldness sting his fingertips. Seeing the crown on his head he promptly removed it. Richard snatched his cape from around his neck and used it to wrap up his crown. Both would go into the core of the ship's engine to burn. Immediately the king cursed himself for thinking so impulsively. He went over to his desk to pull out a box from underneath. Haphazardly he tossed in his cape and crown. Again he stood in front of the observation window, examining his reflection. Without the cape and crown he was just an ace pilot dressed in his black flight suit like so many years ago-unaware of how dynamically his young life would change with one battle.

 _Oh how he longed for that life again. To be blissfully unaware._

Richard placed his head on the window and sobbed. He was nothing. The sobbing showed itself like a great storm exploding from his gut. No one could see him this way. He had to remain strong for everyone.

 _But who consoled a king in his great time of sorrow?_

The bellows grew; his body aging from perpetual grief. He muted his cries into the bicep of his right arm. Thankfully he had not woken Carlton and Judith. Taking a deep breath to expel the next cry out of his body every muscle swiftly froze in place. A burst of exuberance consumed him. Such an opposing extreme of emotions were jarring. _Was he going mad?_ The words just came and frenzied his heart:

 _You, my love, excite men as a mare excites a king's chariots._

 _You hair is beautiful upon your cheeks and falls upon your neck like jewels._

 _All women look at her and praise her._

 _Who is this whose glance is like the dawn?_

 _She is beautiful and bright as dazzling as the sun and moon._

 _What magnificent young woman you are! How beautiful are your feet I sandals._

 _The curve of your thighs is like the work of an artist._

 _Your braided hair shines like the finest of satin; its beauty could hold a king captive._

In his mind's eye Richard saw the beautiful silhouette of a woman hoisting a sword mightily into the air. Her posture, he concluded, demonstrated that she commanded the adulation of civilizations of endless stars. Richard bathed in his vision. His vision roused feelings he thought long departed when the executioner thrust his sword into Lorelei's heart. Guilt visited him but not from his failure to save his wife.

 _"_ _Who was this woman now commanding his heart and he hers?"_

"Father?"

Richard was startled by his son's voice. His face grew scarlet and flushed. "Yes?"

"Who were you talking to?" Carlton asked as he sat up in bed.

Abashed, Richard walked over to his son and kissed him on his brow. Urgently, the king left his quarters. He ran to the ship's bridge. Tyreese had programmed in the coordinates for their new home before liftoff. Richard did not know if there was still time. No one could know. Certainly there would be anger after his actions were discovered.


	2. Chapter 2

Phillip walked through the burning capital city with his soldiers and relief workers. The rebuilding of his birth planet had to begin, starting with his own image. He forwent his usual attire that included battle gear, combat boots, and weapons holstered to his body. Dressed in all white from head to toe, Phillip rapped himself in a spectacular onyx colored cloak embroidered with the binary suns. He proudly wore his family's coat of arms. It was his heritage that had been stripped away from him. This two year campaign was to right a magnificent wrong. He was the one true king, the might of royal blood flowing through his veins. The king dispersed his soldiers throughout the city. They were there to keep order but also to spread the news to survivors that food and supplies would be provisioned in the town square by the king himself. The people came slowly. Clearly battle-weary and broken the citizens watched from afar as Phillip beckoned them to receive their provisions.

"Come, there's nothing to fear! Your king wishes to help you! Come and be whole again."

The people stood frozen in place, unconvinced by Phillip's proclamation. Others who were brave enough backed away from him and tore for their dilapidated homes.

Phillip adjusted the crown on his head. He ran his fingers over the jewels that adorned the replica of his father's crown, reigniting his legendary anger. The thought of his father's crown resting on the head of that philistine Richard disgusted him. His sister was a fool for marrying him and thinking that they could co-rule this planet. Lorelei as the youngest of the two of them was raised as a consort, should she choose to marry, and not as a regent. She was afforded a superb education but was never formally prepared for regency. Phillip adored his parents. They made him and Lorelei the center of their universe. He received the education needed to one day rule his kingdom. But his father stressed that being a ruler was more than the ability to speak alien languages and broker treaties. Although many kings and queens won their crowns on the battlefield, might wasn't enough to keep their crowns. Character sustained a monarch. The deeds that a man performed when he had no audience were the complete measure of a man. Empathy should always prevail.

The self proclaimed king recalled his father's words. They were meant to advise Phillip when as a young prince he was sent to a duchy to help settle a taxation dispute. The people were growing angry and outwardly spoke of rebellion against his father. Instead of being angered by them his father explained that they had a right to voice their concerns. In an act of good faith his parents sent him and a small delegation to start negotiations. Phillip thought his father to be foolish but obediently followed his orders. He would take Karen with him to the duchy. They were promised to one another since infancy. She too needed to learn how to relate to the people if she were to rule at Phillip's side. Even as teenagers they proved to be a striking couple. Phillip grew tall and extremely handsome, a far departure from his lanky awkwardness as a boy. Karen, who was always exquisite with her long wavy dark hair and olive skin, put anyone she met under her spell. Phillip, while thoughtful but stern, his queen to be was a comforting presence with her unrelenting kindness.

Before he departed he remembered playing with his five year old sister and promising to bring her trinkets from journey. Phillip took her out on horseback. He didn't mind her loose brown locks whipping him in his face as he urged his steed to run faster. The joy in her laughter made him feel right with the cosmos.

"I can't wait until you come back big brother so I can be in your wedding. It's going to be the greatest. Karen is going to look so pretty!" Lorelei squealed when they stopped to toss rocks into a lake.

The next time he would see Lorelei would be minutes before he presided over her execution several years later.

When Phillip and his delegation arrived at the duchy he and his delegation were met with a raging mob. They hurled anything within reach, severely injuring an emissary in his party. She had a head wound. The prince noticed clear liquid streaming down one of her ears. His doctor quickly examined her and concluded she had a skull fracture. The crowd took a position to storm.

"What do we do?"

Bewildered, Prince Phillip looked at Karen, his betrothed, and saw her fear. He had no idea what to do. The defiance could not be tolerated. He would not allow his father to come off as weak. _He would not come off weak._

A stray laser bolt from the mob sailed past Karen's head. The prince snatched her up in his arms protectively.

"What do we do?" Another member of their party shouted as the delegation tore for their ship.

Thirty years later the question remained the same.

"What do we do your highness?" A relief worker asked King Phillip.

 _"Viva King Richard!"_ a voice cried out from the crowd.

 _"Usurper!"_ Shouted another voice.

Startled, King Phillip tried to identify his hecklers. There were too many people gathered.

 _"Pretender!"_

The insults rained down on him. The spirit of boldness grew within the townspeople.

 _"What do we do?"_ The relief worker asked again.

King Phillip remembered the charred bodies layering the duchy he visited as a young man. And thirty years later the answer was still the same.

"Kill them. Kill them all."

Astonished, Milton, the king's priest and advisor shook his head vigorously.

"Do not do this, King Phillip! You must gain favor with the people of your planet!" The priest pleaded.

The king stared blankly into the priest's face. He pulled out his communicator and gave the order.

 _"Kill them. Kill them all."_

The king's ship burst from behind the clouds. Glowing raindrops fell from the ships belly. The cries made Milton squeeze his eyes shut. Scores of bodies fell to the ground as they succumbed to the nerve agent. Phillip was pleased but not content. His rule would never be respected if he did nothing about this insolence. He would not rest until Richard and his children were extinguished.


	3. Chapter 3

The young man approached the rendezvous point undetected. Although quite formidable in raw numbers the security around the make-shift fortress was lax. The guards at the gates admitted him without further question. His results as a bounty were well known. The fear and the deference in the guards' faces amused him. The dried up blood on his clothes or the many scars on his face and hands were just convenient accessories. The battle injuries added to his lure. All he had to do was state his name.

 _Gareth_

His contact had taken over an abandoned town and rebuilt it into an impressive estate. The acres of greenery were a rare sight on the battle worn planet. The magnificent color of the flora growing in the lush gardens was in direct opposition to what was inside their proprietor's heart. The bounty hunter examined the walls of the fortress. The light was scarce. Gareth moved gingerly through the corridors. He saw old and damaged art along the walls. Smaller scale hunters more than likely recovered the art from the fallen castle in the capital city.

He saw light ahead and the presence of more guards standing outside of a room.

"I am Gareth. He is expecting me." The young man announced before he was confronted by the sentries.

Without uttering a single word, the men opened the large doors and allowed Gareth entry. He explored his surroundings which had a feel of a make shift throne room.

"Shall we get started?"

Gareth looked to the throne and saw no one.

"I want them alive."

"Let's talk compensation." Gareth responded finally spotting Phillip at a large window partly concealed by dark drapes.

"Is that how you address your king?"

Gareth laughed. "I serve many kings but honor is my god"

King Phillip walked over to his throne and took a seat. In Gareth's opinion the throne, created solely from gold and diamonds was grotesquely overstated. But he would expect nothing less from such a narcissist.

"Bring them to me, alive."

Gareth clenched his jaw. "I do not take kindly to your offensive insinuations."

"I have no concern over your damaged feelings. I thought you to be a bounty hunter and not a young maiden who would bellow over something so trivial."

"My people were trapped in the middle of the galaxy with failing engines on that cruise liner! It took us seven years to get home! Do you think we wanted to do what we did?" Gareth cried.

Phillip fixed his gaze onto the hunter. The silence clouding the room convicted Gareth.

"In light of my history I guess I should feel enormously grateful that even the profession of bounty hunting would have me."

"I cannot speak for your peers but how they include you amongst their ranks I will never comprehend. I can imagine that even amongst hunters trust is a word one does not just toss around. Tell me, do any of your associates fancy your pallor?"

Phillip's laughter rained down on him. Gareth stormed for the door. He would not be insulted.

"I will give you oversight of my most thriving outposts. It will be yours to rule should you prevail with my task."

Gareth stopped before he exited the room.

"It is not riches or fame that you desire but legitimacy."

 _"And what of it?"_

"You and your family tried to reenter society after you were rescued from that liner but all of you were shunned when the story of your survival traveled around the galaxy. Odd that your family were the only survivors"

"We did what we had to do!" Gareth exclaimed with a tear in his eye.

"There are actions more honorable than surviving."

"Go to hell coward. If you were any sort of king you would find King Richard yourself."

"Lad, Do not let your pride or your hatred of me keep you from doing what you know is right."

"Ironic."

"Is it?"

Gareth approached the throne.

"You convict me for using any means to preserve my family yet here you are, _Your Highness_ motivated by hate and greed to end the lives of your own family."

"Those people are not my family!" King Phillip roared.

Gareth shook his head. "You are talking about murdering your young nephew and niece. The princess Judith is barely two years old!"

"Curse the day I would ever meet a bounty hunter who believed in honor. My real family forsake me. My mother and father told me I was dead to them and stripped me of what was rightfully mine by birth. What I did was out of love and strength. Put your feelings aside. I am offering you legitimacy, something that was stolen from me. Your family will not have to hide any longer. Your good fortune will rain down on your descendants for generations."

The bounty hunter thought about his family subsisting on the planet of an abandoned manufacturing colony. Although his parents and brother were well he knew their life expectancies would be cut in half if he did not get them off of the planet.

"I will leave in a few hours. Provide me readouts on King Richard's last known location, trajectories, and possible destinations. I need a list of his adversaries and existent alliances." Gareth relented.

King Phillip smirked. _Oh how he enjoyed holding all of the cards._


	4. Chapter 4

Sasha synced the computer inside of her fighter with the main engine computer inside of the Andromeda. The cockpit closed and she buckled in to her seat. She raked back her brown hair then placed her helmet on her head.

"Are you ready?" Margaret asked over the communication channel.

"Ready to launch, now." Sasha replied back.

Their fighters shot out of the Andromeda's hangar and into deep space. They broke off into opposite directions, guarding the perimeter of the main ship.

"We'll maintain this frequency throughout the night. I am scrambling the signal right now in the unlikely event we are being tracked by anyone who means us harm. If either of you see anything suspicious I will be right here on the ship's bridge until tomorrow morning." Tyreese informed the two women.

Margaret sighed. "You will need some rest when you take over my shift."

"No worries. I have got my dinner here along with a comfortable blanket and pillow." Tyreese joked.

"We will hear him snoring soon. He will find a way to get his rest."

Margaret laughed.

"Very funny litter sister."

"It is true." Sasha quipped while she adjusted the hologram of her late fiancé's face on her cockpit dash.

"Just be careful out there. I love you both. Over and out."

Both women flashed the lights in their cockpits, acknowledging Tyreese.

"Margaret I am going to fly ahead and take a look around."

"That is fine. Do not jump to far ahead. I have the Andromeda covered for now. See you later."

Sasha flashed the lights in her cockpit and took off. She needed the solitude. The double shifts were a blessing. She reached out the hologram of Robert's face as if she could still actually touch him. He nearly made it and would be patrolling right now with her and Margaret if he had listened to her. But he had to be a hero.

 _Robert why did you have to be so brave?_

Only a few weeks ago, Captain Stookey and his squadron of pilots had discovered what they thought was Phillip's location inside of a ship in the capital city. Instead of checking in with intelligence and with King Richard they flew ahead without alerting anyone, until it was too late. Early one morning he reached out to Sasha over their own personal frequency.

 _We have got him! We are going in to get the pretender._

 _This is too easy, Robert. You and your men need to come back so we can plan a proper strategy!_

 _The time is now!_

 _Sasha could see the labored but triumphant face of Robert on her wrist com. She heard his heavy breathing and rapid footsteps of him and his men storming the corridors of Phillips ship._

 _We can end this war today! The king will not have to hide! None of us will have to hide anymore!_

 _I want that so much Robert. But I cannot lie. I do not think this is safe._

 _My love, we are fighter pilots. There is no such thing as safety. You know that..._

Sasha tore herself from that day. She massaged her temples. She readjusted herself in the seat of her cockpit and looked off into space. Instead of seeing the stars and the colors of the shifting galaxies sailing by she saw Robert's face blown apart on the screen of her wrist com. The screams still sailed around her in the fighter as the pilots realized what was happening. The booby trapped ship was actually a ghost ship commandeered by a robot to fly into the nearest mountain range. Sasha tried to convince herself that Robert and his comrades had no idea what was happening. But they knew. Over half of their remaining air force was lost that day, the other half, King Richard ordered to flee and find refuge wherever they could in the vastness of space.

"Sasha, Tyreese, we have got a bit of a situation here." Margaret informed as she pinged their open frequency."

The alarm in her friend's voice made Sasha push her ship's engine's to the maximum. She knew she could only maintain her ship's burn for only a limited amount of time yet she did not care. She could not lose the woman she had come to love as her sister. She would not lose anyone else.

Fifteen minutes had passed before Sasha finally reached Margaret. She eased her ship's position to where she was less than two meters parallel to Margaret. She froze in disbelief.

"Is that the-"

"The graveyard." Margaret finished.

The two young women looked in awe at the hundreds of decaying ships still aimlessly floating around after a quarter century.

Some ships still had the pilots strapped into their cockpits. Far off into the distance they could see undecayed bodies floating. With the absence of oxygen in space, their corpses were denied the chemical reactions needed to break the tissue down.

"If that is the graveyard then we are seriously off course." Sasha shouted in alarm.

Tyreese cleared his throat over their shared frequency. "Come back to the Andromeda you two. I think I have discovered what is going on."

"Have you alerted Richard?" Sasha asked her brother.

"He knows. Yet I do not think he is aware that we know."

"What are you suggesting, Tyreese?" Margaret asked.

"Just get back to the ship, immediately."

Tyreese groaned. In his lifetime as a pilot he had taken on so many enemy ships that they had covered the blue of the morning sky. He had fought hand to hand with some of the most skilled fighters in the universe but he had never taken on a king...a king who was his best friend. Devotion aside, He refused to allow Richard to get them all killed.


	5. Chapter 5

In hangar B Richard inspected the two fighters belonging to him and Tyreese. The third ship was towed aboard by Margaret. It was a newer model, much more agile and smaller than the older ships. The computer systems and the AI in the newer models were equipped with were said to be more accurate by his engineers. Richard laughed to himself. No design or computer could replace the instincts of a great pilot. Sitting through hours of flight training did not help him win the biggest battle of his life. Yes, flight was in his blood. Flight was his sole identity for the first half of his life. It was his first love that served as a bridge to his next love.

 _Lorelei._

Her family wanted to personally meet with the pilot who orchestrated and defeated the great threat from their very own son. The king and queen threw a grand reception for nineteen year old Lieutenant Richard Grimes and the rest of his squadron. Their superiors accompanied them, or more accurately chaperoned and warned them that any boorish behavior would be severely punished. As they dressed in their formals that night they were balls of frenzy, mocking all of the aristocracy that they would meet that night.

He and Tyreese were standing outside of their room in the palace gardens to escape the antics of their comrades.

"I would rather go another round up there than go through this." A nervous Richard confessed as he pointed up at the stars.

Tyreese laughed. "Get it together. You are guest of honor."

"I just did what I was supposed to do."

Tyreese looked at his friend grinning sheepishly. He shook his head and laughed again. "Get it together. You will live!"

Richard remembered most of the evening being uneventful. The king and queen received him, he mingled with dignitaries, and dined at the most extravagant table. Then he saw her.

A girl his own age entered the room and everyone rose to their feet. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Her long dark hair fell around her bare shoulders. The light blue gown she wore flowed perfectly matched her majestic gait perfectly.

"Who is she?" Richard asked, leaning over and whispering to Tyreese.

"Do you see her crown? Their daughter. The _sane_ child."

Richard nodded.

"I am sure they are getting ready to marry her off to some prince or over the hill king."

But it was not a prince or an over the hill king who captured her heart.

They did not dance but spoke intermittently throughout the night. Both knew to keep it discrete. Although Richard came from a prominent family and was now a war hero all of that did not matter.

So they started their affair in secret sending each other encoded holographic love messages. Lorelei even had her handmaidens smuggle her out of the castle to meet with him. Richard eventually felt as if he was dishonoring the princess and begged her to arrange a meeting with her parents. After her fear subsided Lorelei agreed.

Richard told no one, not even Tyreese. He prepared himself for the worst knowing he was not a suitable partner for an eventual queen regent. It would have almost been a relief if the king and queen rejected him. But their jubilation was his biggest curse. His new family loved him. They trusted him with their daughter and kingdom. Yet they seemed to want a replacement son for the one whom they banished years ago. The son who had just been defeated in a galactic war he started to reclaim his birthright.

Richard picked up his headset from a table of tools. He pulled the attached visor over his face. The infrared visor lit up, aiding him in seeing inside the ships' mechanisms. The diagnostics downloaded into his field of vision. The fuel plasma was running a bit rich into one of the engines. If his mechanics found him in here they would admonish him for doing such menial work. They only knew him as a king but this was his true identity. Once upon a time all that was required of him were to blast things out of the sky. Now he had children to keep alive. His extended family needed him to be strong: Hershel, Margaret, Sasha and Tyreese they would lay down their lives for him and the children. Carl and Judith needed to be protected at all costs but he would not allow them to die all for their failure of a king.

Phillip was still out there. Hopefully with the concession of his kingdom to Phillip he would not pursue them. _Hopefully._ The stress of that very real threat would be part of his life forever. They could hide on Kabi but for how long? The planet was inhabitable but devoid of civilization. In this life, in these trying times you still needed people.

He wanted to find them all a new home. Richard knew that eventually his family would discover his actions but they needed people. He needed...well his needs were secondary.

Richard gritted his teeth. He continued to read the diagnostics on his visor and slid on his robotic glove to guide him to make the repairs to his ship.

 _How much longer, my lord?_

Startled, Richard tapped his visor after seeing the question run across his field of vision.

 _You will be safe here. Your children will be happy. I will help you._

He had forgotten what it was like to feel like a whole man. This strange voice was reminding him of how exhilarating it was to feel desire and to be the desired.

 _Who are you?_

 _Silence._

 _Who are you?_ Richard asked again. This time he saw his question flash in his visor.

 _You are waking me from a deep slumber, my lord._

 _And you have woken me._

 _Unburden yourself._ The being urged.

 _A leader's life is not meant to be easy._

 _Attach your yoke to mine. Our burden will finally be light._

I cannot lose another.

I am able.

I cannot love another.

My king, you already love another.

Richard paused. He lifted up his visor and continued to work. He tried his best to ignore what had just happened. Surely he was going mad.

 _And you are worthy to love again._

Taking off his visor futile. Like on the mountain back home and in his quarters on the ship he began to hear the voice. Richard growled. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

 _Why are you doing this to me?_

 _Because you have always been worthy of a queen's love._

 _I slept, but my heart was awake.  
A sound! My beloved is knocking.  
"Open to me, my sister, my love,  
my dove, my perfect one,  
for my head is wet with dew,  
my locks with the drops of the night."_

 _I had put off my garment;  
how could I put it on?  
I had bathed my feet;  
how could I soil them?_

 _My beloved put his hand to the latch,  
and my heart was thrilled within me._

 _I arose to open to my beloved,  
and my hands dripped with myrrh,  
my fingers with liquid myrrh,  
on the handles of the bolt._

 _I opened to my beloved,  
but my beloved had turned and gone.  
My soul failed me when he spoke.  
I sought him, but found him not;  
I called him, but he gave no answer._

 _I adjure you, daughters of my land  
if you find my beloved,  
that you tell him  
I am sick with love._

 _Please come to me Richard._

He was so overcome, he could barely stand. He climbed into his cockpit and relaxed. Richard surrendered himself and again the words came freely:

Your breath is like the fragrance of apples and your mouth like the finest of wines.

 _Under the apple tree I woke you,  
_ _in the place where you were born.  
Close your heart to every love but mine;  
_ _hold no one in your arms but me.  
Love is as powerful as death;  
_ _passion is as strong as death itself.  
It bursts into flame  
_ _and burns like a raging fire.  
Water cannot put it out;  
_ _no flood can drown it.  
But if any tried to buy love with their wealth,  
_ _contempt is all they would get._

 _What is your name, my queen?_

 _Silence._

Richard could sense her uncertainty. He eased his head on the headrest to steady his breathing.

 _Michonne._

He finally had a name. He said it out loud.

 _Michonne._

Richard smiled.

"Who the hell is Michonne?"

Margaret's voice broke Richard from his trance. He peeped over the edge of his open cockpit and saw Hershel, Tyreese, Carlton, Maggie, and Sasha looking up at him. Richard jumped to the ground. Instantly he noted the dismay in his family's eyes.

"You had me thinking that I made miscalculations. You had me questioning myself!" Tyreese angrily barked.

Hershel looked away. Richard knew they had discovered what he had done.

Tears were welling in Sasha's eyes. You have probably killed us all, Richard. Why?"

Before he could answer Margaret struck him in the temple with a closed fist. Richard grabbed onto the wing of his fighter to keep from crashing to the ground. Hershel ran to his side to steady him but all Richard could do was look into the eyes of his son. Carlton turned his gaze to the ground. His disappointment in his father was completely evident.


End file.
